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Monday, June 11, 2012

Queen's Birthday gongs

Two gongs relevant to this patch in the Member (AM) Order of Australia category:

Ken Taylor (left) former NSW Health Care Complaints Commissioner, former NSW Privacy Commissioner and former Acting Information Commissioner NSW, and Ian Reinecke, long time information/technology guru and member of the Gov 2.0 Task Force in 2009.

Judge Taylor stepped down from both privacy and information commissioner posts in November 2009.He has been back in the hot seat as acting district court judge in a couple of recent controversial cases.

Update: and a Public Service Medal for Tony Corcoran at Defence for "outstanding public service in managing the Freedom of Information function." From my comments after last year's National Information Policy Conference:

At the same session and right in this
groove Tony Corcoran Asssistant Secretary Freedom of Information and
Information Management gave a terrific run down .. on
(relatively) new thinking in Defence that brings together various
information management and disclosure threads including FOI in a service
context. In answer to a question about the result of this branch
assuming responsibility for FOI from a legal area, Corcoran said
compliance with statutory time frames had gone from 12% previously to
100% currently, reinforcing my view that Legal should provide advice
when required, not control and manage the FOI function these days.

Full citations follow:His Honour Judge Kenneth Victor TAYLOR AM(Mil) RFD,For service to the judiciary, to the law, and to the community through contributions in the areas of privacy, freedom of information, health and patient care matters. Judge Taylor was appointed as a Member in the Military Division of the Order of Australia in The Queen’s Birthday 1995 Honours List for his outstanding service to the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Navy Reserve Force, particularly in facilitating the integration of the two units into a total combined force.Acting Judge, District Court of New South Wales.Judge, District Court of New South Wales, 1991-2010.Judge, Drug Court of New South Wales, 2008.Acting Justice, Supreme Court of New South Wales.Privacy Commissioner, Privacy New South Wales, 2008-2010; involved in the combination of the Information and Privacy Commissioner.Acting Information Commissioner New South Wales, 2009; involved in the establishment of the Office of the New South Wales Information Commissioner.Commissioner, NSW Law Reform Commission, 2008-2009 and 2009-2010.Commissioner, Health Care Complaints Commission, 2004-2005.Deputy Chairperson, Medical Tribunal, 1998-2010.Deputy Judge Advocate General (Navy), 1998-2002, 2003-2004 and 2004-2006.Barrister, 1981-1991.Other awards/recognition include:Reserve Force Decoration, long service award presented to officers in the Reserve elements of the Australian Defence Force.

Mr Anthony John (Tony) CORCORAN, For outstanding public service in managing the Freedom of Information function for Defence.As the Assistant Secretary Freedom of Information and Information Management within the Department of Defence, Mr Corcoran has achieved outstanding results and provided excellent service to Defence in contributing to the Government’s commitment to restore trust and integrity in the use of Australian Government information, and to promote greater openness and transparency. In particular, Mr Corcoran's management of the Freedom of Information (FOI) function has exceeded management expectations, with Defence now 100 per cent FOI compliant, in part because of the very effective hands-on role of Mr Corcoran.

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About Me

Peter Timmins is an Australian lawyer and consultant who works on FOI and privacy protection issues in Sydney, NSW. He has Arts and Laws (Honours) degrees
from the University of Sydney, and has been involved in the FOI field for 25 years.Peter is an experienced public speaker and commentator. See In the News and Testimonials, and Career Summary for more details on background and experience.